Chapter Three
Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla awaken with the coming of dawn. Soon Shara, Merlik, Valerie, Maya, and Synda are all awake as well. After a quick, cold breakfast of fruits, nuts, and cheese, the eight heroes prepare to leave for Alcatraz. There's not enough room on Yeek's back to carry five people. Ariel agrees to ride on Yeek's back with Shara and Merlik, while Thundarr and Ookla (grudgingly) agree to be carried in Yeek's talons.
"What about us?" asks Valerie, "I can fly myself, but there's no way I'll be able to carry Maya and Synda. My wings aren't strong enough."
"I will hold onto your back and assume the form of helium," says Maya, "That should make us light enough to not be too great a burden on your wings."
"And you can use my Staff Of Power to hold me with," adds Synda, "With ten times the strength, your wings ought to be able to support our combined weight easily."
"It's settled then," says Shara, "Let's go!"
Shara climbs aboard Yeek's back, with Merlik getting on behind her and Princess Ariel sitting right behind him. Yeek lets out a loud cry as he starts flapping his wings and rising up into the air. He then gently but firmly picks up Thundarr and Ookla in his talons and flies off towards the ruins of Cisco. Valerie Storm takes hold of Synda's Staff Of Power and wraps her arms around Synda's waist from behind. Maya walks up behind Valerie and wraps her arms around Valerie's waist. Then with hardly an effort, the former Queen Of Endore assumes the form of helium. Her body shifts and becomes transparent, but is still visible. Valerie stretches her wings and takes off, easily taking to the air with what should have been an impossibly heavy burden. The entire journey takes but a single day by air, which would've taken them days of hard riding by horseback through dense and dangerous jungle. The sun is just setting as they arrive upon the ruins of Alcatraz. To their collective relief, the fortress had not been overrun while they were making preparations in Beverly. But things are not looking good. The fortress is under attack by a massive horde of zombies. While the humans in the courtyard seem to be holding their ground in most places, one section of the ancient chain link fence which is protecting the courtyard has collapsed under the weight of the zombie horde and the undead are pouring in through the breech. Defenders are running to try and drive them back, but they are obviously tiring and the zombies are relentless. Yeek and Valerie head straight towards the breech in Alcatraz's defenses. Once they're in range, Ookla fires an arrow from his powerful mok bow. The arrow buries itself to the fletchings in the skull of a zombie, felling it. Valerie Storm swoops past and lets go of Synda's Staff Of Power. The warrior woman falls several feet and smashes the skull of a zombie with her powerfully enchanted staff. Several more zombies crown around her in and attempt to bear her down with sheer numbers. She smashes their skulls, one after another. Moments later Maya falls from the sky, landing on several zombies with bone shattering impact. Maya had let go of Valerie at the same instant Valerie had let go of Synda. She then waited until she was just above a large group of zombies and changed form, from helium into iron. Zombies gather around her and try to bite and claw at her flesh, but they can't penetrate her iron skin. Yeek flies over head and Shara The Barbarian leaps from his back shouting her battle cry.
"Ha-yeeeeee!" she cries as she falls, using the momentum of her fall to smash the skull of the nearest zombie with her club.
A moment later Yeek lets go of Thundarr and Ookla, dropping them into the fray with the zombies.
"Yaaaaaaaa-heee!" cries Thundarr as he drops, letting out his own battle cry.
Ookla roars as he drops down into the zombie horde. As they're falling Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade, cutting a zombie in two as he lands. Ookla uses his mok bow as a club and smashes the skull of a zombie as he lands. He then quickly smashes the skulls of two more, then launches an arrow at a third. At this close range the arrow goes clean through the zombie's skull, continues on, then buries itself into the brain of a second zombie, killing them both. Meanwhile Thundarr is lopping off zombie heads with his mighty Sunsword, sometimes two or three at a time. Up above, Ariel and Merlik are circling the perimeter of Alcatraz, launching fireballs at the gathering horde of the undead. Dozens of zombies fall to the blasts of their spells. Others burst into flames and flail about, forcing the other zombies to back away. And hovering overhead near the breech is Valerie Storm, blasting zombie heads with energy beams from her eyes. Every time Valerie blasts a zombie with her eye beams, the zombie's head explodes and the body collapses to rot in the dirt. The defenders are heartened by the arrival of reinforcements and fight harder. But even with the sudden press of defense, for every zombie that falls there seems to be two to take its place. Yeek makes a pass overhead and Ariel and Merlik launch a pair of fireballs on either side of the break in the chain link fence. Many zombies just outside the fence fall in a heap, burned to a crisp. Others are flailing about like human torches. However the relief gives Thundarr, Ookla, Shara, Synda, Maya, and Valerie, as well the other defenders of Alcatraz a chance to kill all of the zombies that had made it into the courtyard.
"There's too many of them," says Shara, "We can't beat them all."
"We need time to regroup," says Valerie, "We need to be able to repair that chain link fence and fortify our other defenses."
"We have to get the zombies to back off," says Maya, "if only for a little while."
"I have an idea!" says Synda, "Ookla! Come with me!"
Synda smashes a bunch of zombie skulls and then dashes towards the center of the courtyard. Ookla backs away from the fighting firing arrow after arrow at the zombies, each one striking a zombie in the head. Sometimes even taking out two at a time. Once he's clear of the fighting he turns and runs over to the warrior woman. She hands Ookla her Staff Of Power.
"Here," she says, "take this and strike the ground with it as hard as you can?"
Ookla makes a questioning growl, essentially the mok equivalent of saying "Huh?"
"Just do it!" she tells him, "Trust me!"
Ookla takes the magic staff and raises it over his head, then brings it down and strikes the ground with all his might. The staff strikes against the earth with a resounding crack, and the ground shakes.
"Again!" says Synda, "Keep hitting the ground! Don't stop!"
Ookla does as he's told. Ookla is strong enough to lift a Boulder several times his size and throw it with ease. Synda's Staff Of Power increases it's wielder's strength by tenfold. In the hands of a mok, especially one as strong as Ookla, the staff is formidable indeed. The entire hill of Alcatraz Island shakes under the relentless blows of Ookla and the magic staff. Zombies, already clumsy and uncoordinated, fall from their precarious positions as they attempt to climb up the side of the hill. Loose rocks and boulders shake free and tumble down the hill, knocking over zombies as they come tumbling down, and crashing into the living corpses at the bottom of the hill. Many large rocks strike zombie skulls with bone crushing impact. Other zombies are buried under tons of rocks and mud, unable to move to dig themselves free. In a matter of moments, the sides of the hill which was once Alcatraz Island which were crawling with the living dead are now free of zombies. Those undead left at the top of the hill and inside the courtyard are quickly and easily dispatched. Ookls
"Ookla!" says Synda, "That's enough! You can stop now! We've won!"
Ookla looks around and sees that Synda is right. He was so busy creating the earthquake that he didn't realize that the fighting had stopped. He hands the Staff Of Power over to Synda and offers an apologetic shrug. Synda takes her magic staff and gives it a quick inspection for damage. Luckily the enchantment of the weapon is so great that even mighty Ookla's great strength could not damage it. Synda smiles up at the mok.
"That's okay," she tells him, "You managed to win the day for us."
Thundarr, Shara, and Maya walk through the strewn bodies, finishing off any zombies that aren't quite dead yet and preventing any fallen defenders from rising as enemies. The other defenders go about collecting the weapons of any fallen defenders to redistribute to the other villagers. Good weapons are too rare to waste by just leaving them lying around. Valerie Storm continues to fly about the perimeter of Alcatraz, blasting any zombies that begin to climb up the hill with her eye beams. Meanwhile, Yeek lands in the courtyard and allows Ariel and Merlik to climb off his back. The two sorcerers walk over to where the battle was nearly lost.
"Is this everyone who fell?" asks Ariel.
"Aye," says Thundarr, "And all the zombies we destroyed as they entered the courtyard."
"Thank you for your help," says a large defender with the build of a blacksmith, "We've recovered everything of value from our lost brethren. All that's left to do is dispose of the bodies."
"I'll take care of that," says Ariel.
The sorceress holds her hands out towards the pile of dead bodies and unleashes a burst of flames. The fire encompasses the entire pile. Bodies whither and burn as the fires continue to leap from Ariel's hands. The heat is nearly overwhelming to those standing near by and they have to back away. In a matter of minutes the bodies are all burned to ash, both zombie and defender alike. Then Ariel conjures up a gust of wind that blows the ashes out over the swamp.
"Now let's take care of that broken fence," says Merlik.
The young sorcerer steps up and raises his hands over his head. Beams of green light shoot forth from his palms, enveloping the entire broken section of fence in a green glow. The rust disappears and the steel links of the fence reform. The broken steel wire which held the fence to the steel frames repair themselves. The steel links reattach themselves to the metal frame, and the ancient strands of barbed wire and razor wire once again grace the top of the fence. Merlik then starts working his way around the perimeter of the fence, repairing the centuries of rust and damage that had accumulated over time as well as any damage caused by the zombie horde. While he's doing this an old man with a long white beard and wearing red robes approaches Thundarr, Ariel, and the others.
"Thank you for your help my friends," says the old man, "We are grateful for your aid."
"Kwan!" cries Princess Ariel happily, "You're alive!" She runs up and gives the old man a warm hug, "We were afraid you might not have survived the zombie's attack."
"We have spent years stockpiling food and drink in this ancient prison so that we may take refuge here during emergencies," explains Kwan.
"And it is a good thing you did," says Thundarr, "or you may not have survived long enough for us to bring help."
"Who are your friends that you have brought to aid us in our fight?" asks Kwan.
"Forgive me," says Ariel, "This here is Queen Maya, an Element Shifter. With her is Synda, a warrior woman with an enchanted Staff Of Power. Flying about the fortress is Valerie Storm, you can see her powers for yourself. This young lady here is Shara The Barbarian. And the young man going about fixing your steel fence is her companion, the sorcerer Merlik."
"Yeek! Yeek! Yeek!" says Yeek, and Ariel laughs.
"Oh yes! This is Yeek, their faithful steed."
Yeek puffs out his chest like a giant barnyard rooster and everyone has a good laugh. They sober up quickly though, for they may have won the battle but the war was far from over.
"I am surprised that you have not been completely over run," says Thundarr, "Your metal fence seems hardly capable of holding back that zombie horde, even without the rust. We fully expected the entire courtyard to be filled with zombies."
"We have learned of a new weapon to use against the zombies," says Kwan, "Here, let me show you."
Kwan takes the new arrivals to a large stone building which appears to be a new addition to the compound. He opens the large double doors and leads them into what appears to be a huge barn. In the center of this structure is a great big machine, with heavy cables leading from it and going to the walls. Ariel follows the lines of cables and sees that they are attached to the steel fence. She looks back at the machine. There are a pair of, what looks like, giant hamster wheels built into the machine. And at the back of the building are several stables housing at least a dozen equarts. Realization strikes Ariel like a bolt of lightning.
"It's a generator!" she exclaims, "You've electrified the fence!"
"Yes," says Kwan, "When we first fled our village, there was a terrible thunderstorm. One of the zombies had an iron poker driven through his chest by someone attempting to defend themselves. When we were running, we saw him get struck by lightning. He fell and did not rise again. So when all who could be saved reached the fortress, we attached cables from the power generator to the fence. We've had our equarts running in their wheels constantly ever since. Unfortunately, the equarts are tired. They cannot make much more than a steady trot. In order to repel the zombies, they have to run at a full gallop. Anything less just doesn't generate enough power."
Just then Valerie lands just outside the doorway to the building. "We're not going to have a lot of time to catch our breath," she tells them, "The zombies are already on the move. It's tough going, but they are making their way back up the hill. I've been trying to slow them down, but I can only eliminate one at a time."
"Maybe I can buy us a little more time," says Ariel.
She raises her hands above her head and disappears in a puff of yellow smoke. She reappears just outside the perimeter of the fence. She reaches her hands out towards the ground, and beams of bright white energy shoot forth from her palms and strike the ground. Where the beams hit the earth, ice begins to form. Then it begins to spread, out and down. The ice spreads and spreads until the entire sides of Alcatraz Island are covered in a sheet of ice three feet thick and as smooth as glass. Ariel carefully looks over the ledge, being mindful not to slip down the side of the hill. By the light of the broken moon she can see zombies determinedly trying to climb up the slick icy surface. She smiles and once again disappears in a puff of yellow smoke to reappear alongside her friends.
"That ought to hold them for a while," she says, "That ice won't last long in this climate, but I think I bought us at least a day of rest."
"Good," says Thundarr, "Then tonight we rest. Tomorrow we will work on improving our defenses."
"Kwan," says Ariel, "What can you tell me about these zombies? Do they roam the countryside? Or do they seem intent on destroying you personally?"
"They seem quite content to only attack us Ariel," says Kwan, "They don't seem to want to move beyond the swamp."
"How long have they been behaving like this?" she asks.
"Since they first arrived," replies Kwan, "About a week ago."
"And no changes to their behavior?"
"None that we could see."
"Why are you asking him these things?" asks Thundarr, "What difference does it make if they're intent on destroying the people of Cisco or just roaming about?"
"Because Thundarr," explains Ariel, "The fact that they're intent on attacking this fortress means that they're being controlled by someone. Specifically by a wizard. And since they never lose their focus on these people, that means that the wizard has not slept for at least a week."
"How do you know this?" asks Shara.
"Zombies are not creatures of nature, they're creations of magic. Created by wizards using an extremely dark form of sorcery call necromancy or death magic. In order to control a zombie horde, a wizard must maintain complete concentration. He cannot relax his concentration for a moment, not even to sleep, or he loses control and the zombies run wild. Wild zombies will kill and eat any living thing they meet, even their own creators. That is why so few wizards will practice necromancy, and even fewer will create zombie soldiers. It's too difficult to maintain control. The last wizard who tried was named Necros, who lived in Australia over two hundred years ago. His zombie army had grown so large that one night, while he slept, they were able to break out of their pens and run amok. They killed and ate all of Necros' carock guards, then went into his bed chamber and killed him too. Then without Necros to control them, they just went wild. They cut a swath through the countryside, killing every living thing in their path. No one and nothing was safe. Humans, carocks, dingo warriors, moks, mutants, groundlings, the zombies went after them all. Only a handful of the living inhabitants of Australia managed to escape on ships. Everyone else was either eaten or turned into a zombie themselves. For decades the entire continent of Australia was populated entirely by zombies, until several ships carrying sorcerers and armored warriors landed there on a crusade to wipe the zombie plague from the face of the Earth. Many crusaders died during that campaign. But eventually, Australia was made safe for living creatures to inhabit once more."
"So after a week of constantly controlling his zombie army, this wizard must be exhausted," reasons Shara.
"Exactly," says Ariel.
"But if we destroy the wizard controlling the zombies, wouldn't we be dooming the world to another wild zombie plague?" asks Thundarr.
"Not necessarily," says Ariel, "In order to cast the spell to create the zombies, a wizard must first create a Death Talisman. Death Talismans are items created by the wizard out of a piece of his own body. It could be a glass vial of his blood, a braided lock of his hair, a bag with his teeth or nail clippings inside, anything like that. If we can find the wizard, take his talisman, and destroy it, all zombies created by his spell will cease to exist. They'll just die."
"So now all we have to do is find out who this wizard is, beat him, take his talisman, and destroy it, and we've won!" says Valerie, "Piece of cake!"
"I don't think it'll be quite that easy," says Ariel, "but that is the general idea."
"Then tonight we get some rest!" says Thundarr, "Tomorrow we add to the fortress's defenses. Once we know that Alcatraz is as defended as it can be, Ariel, Ookla and I will seek out this wizard and destroy him!"
"Hey!" says Shara, "What about us?"
"The rest of you will stay here and help defend Alcatraz," he tells her, "If we do not return, you will be the only hope for the people of Cisco."
"That makes sense to me," says Valerie, "Besides, without our help Cisco might fall to the zombie horde before Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla finish their mission."
"Exactly," says Thundarr
"Oh, all right," agrees Shara, and Valerie flashes a quick wink and a smile at Thundarr to let him know she understands his true reasoning. Thundarr smiles and nods his head in a silent 'Thanks'.
Kwan then leads them all inside and shows them where they can spend the night.